USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 45
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on the 23d of December, 1895, her parents being Mr. and Mrs. John Bennetto, of that locality. Mr. and Mrs. McLaughlin have a daughter, Margaret, born in Des Moines, January 3, 1900, and now attending the Omaha high school.
Mr. Mclaughlin belongs to the Omaha and Field Clubs, which shows his appreciation of the social amenities of life, and his interest in community affairs is indicated by his membership in the Commercial Club. Along strictly pro- fessional lines he has connection with the Omaha, Nebraska State and American Bar Associations. He holds to advanced professional standards, being careful at all times to confirm his practice to the highest professional ethics, and he enjoys the confidence and respect of colleagues and contemporaries.
LEO A. HOFFMANN.
Among those who are actively and successfully engaged in the undertaking business in Omaha is numbered Leo A. Hoffmann, whose establishment is located at Twenty-fourth and Dodge streets. He was born in Dubuque, Iowa, December 5, 1880, and is a son of M. M. and Mary (Voelker) Hoffmann, who were also natives of Dubuque. Both the paternal and the maternal grandfathers came from Germany and cast their lots with the early settlers of Dubuque, where the father, M. M. Hoffmann, is still in business. He, too, is an undertaker and established his business in 1889. He was the first to introduce embalming in Iowa and still continues in that work, his son Alois being his partner. M. M. Hoffmann has long been recognized as a leader among the embalmers of the United States. He is inventive and has made ta number of valuable improvements on caskets. He is enjoying a substantial measure of success and, moreover, he has always taken an active part in public affairs. For fourteen years he held the position of coroner and then refused to longer accept the nomination for the office.
Leo A. Hoffmann, the eldest in a family of nine children, spent his school days in Dubuque, attending the public schools and afterward the Dubuque College. He then received his business training under the direction of his father, with whom he was associated until 1905, when their business relations were terminated and Leo A. Hoffmann came to Omaha, where he opened an undertaking establish- ment on Sixteenth street. In 1913 his present building was erected on Twenty- fourth street, near Dodge. This is a two-story brick structure of a most beautiful style of architecture with four large pillars in front. In fact it is one of the most thoroughly modern and artistic buildings devoted to the undertaking business in the country. On the first floor are found the public and private offices and recep- tion parlors, the chapel, two rest rooms, a fireproof preparing room and a disin- fecting room with an outside entrance. There are also six display rooms on the second floor with every modern convenience known to the business. He carries an elegant line of caskets and in connection with his sales has introduced an innovation, marking all goods in plain figures, his prices ranging from the highest to the lowest, so as to suit the purse or wants of the purchaser. Mr. Hoffmann has today one of the finest funeral homes in the west. He thoroughly understands his business and gives his personal attention to all cases. He is a man who understands human nature and by his tact and consideration relieves the minds of the mourners. The minutest detail has been carefully studied in relation to the handling of the dead and caring for the mourners. English, German, Polish, Bohemian and Swedish are spoken by employes of the establishment, so that he is able to care for all the different nationalities. All creeds and fraternal organiza- tions are also represented among his employes and the funeral services and rites as desired are perfectly conducted. The business has greatly increased and is still growing, having already reached extensive and gratifying proportions. Mr. Hoffmann is a graduate of the Philadelphia School of Embalming and also of the Barnes Embalming College of Chicago. He is president of the state board of
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embalmers and was selected as one of the lecturers on embalming at the State University of Nebraska, a new course just started.
In May, 1908, Mr. Hoffmann was united in marriage to Miss Veronica Dougherty, of Omaha, and their children are Mary Jeannette, Mary Bernadette, Mary Veronica and Leo A., Jr. Mr. Hoffmann is a man of marked public spirit and progress, ever ready to further any movement for the advancement of the city's welfare. Broad in his sympathies, he is deeply interested in the welfare of mankind and his activities in charitable and uplift work, as head of one of the best charitable organizations in the country, manifest his pronounced humani- tarian character.
REV. FRANCIS XAVIER McMENAMY.
Rev. Francis Xavier McMenamy, president of Creighton College, which is one of the institutions that has gained for Omaha it reputation as a strong educa- tional center, was born in St. Louis in 1872. His father, Bernard M. McMenamy, was a native of Ireland but was a resident of the United States from the age of nine years.
Reared in St. Louis, Rev. Francis X. McMenamy prepared for the priesthood of the Catholic church and was graduated from St. Louis University with the class of 1892. He afterward continued his studies in St. Stanislaus' Seminary near St. Louis, in which he completed his course by graduation with the class of 1906. He was called to the presidency of Creighton College in August, 1914, and has since guided the destinies of that institution with all of its varied branches, increasing its reputation for thoroughness and raising its standards until it has become one of the strong forces in educational development in the middle west. He is constantly working out along broadening lines for the benefit of the institu- tion and his well defined plans and purposes crystallize into tangible results of far- reaching effects.
CHARLES HENRY BROWN.
Discriminating judgment may well be termed the dominant characteristic of the late Charles Henry Brown, an Omaha capitalist who throughout the period of his business career figured prominently in the field of investments and became connected with some of the most important financial enterprises of the state. He was born October 19, 1875, in Omaha, son of James J. and Missouri (Kennedy) Brown, and was a representative of one of the city's oldest families. A sketch of the life of his father will be found elsewhere in this publication.
Charles Henry Brown supplemented his public school education by study in the Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, and then entered Harvard University, where he completed the work of the sophomore year, and upon return- ing to Omaha he became the assistant of his father in the investment business and ultimately his successor. Later while he continued active in this field, he handled mostly his own property. Something of the nature and extent of his interests is shown in the fact that he was the president of the Omaha Safe Deposit and Trust Company, secretary and treasurer of the Brown Realty & Investment Company, secretary and treasurer of the Boulevard Park Improve- ment Company, director of the Omaha National Bank, director of the National Bank of Ashland, Nebraska, director of the Battle Creek Valley Bank of Battle Creek. Nebraska, and a director of the Omaha Realty Company.
On the 15th of November, 1913, in Kansas City, Missouri, Mr. Brown was united in marriage to Miss Ella Mae Brown, daughter of the late Frank Dwight
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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
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Brown. Two sons, Charles Henry, Jr., and Frank Dwight, were born to them. Mr. Brown belonged to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and was a well known figure in club circles of Omaha, having membership in the Com- mercial, Country, Omaha and Jacksonian Clubs. Always a resident of this city. his life record was well known to his fellow townsmen, who speak of him in terms of high regard. He was a very public-spirited citizen and his charities were known to have been large. To accumulate a fortune requires one kind of genius; to retain a fortune already acquired, to add to its legitimate increment and to make such use of it that its possessor may derive therefrom the greatest enjoyment and the public the greatest benefit requires another kind of genius. Mr. Brown belonged to that younger generation of business men of Omaha called upon to shoulder responsibilities differing materially from those resting upon their predecessors. In a broader field of enterprise he was obliged to deal with affairs of greater magnitude and to solve more difficult and complicated financial and economic problems, but he was at all times found adequate to the demands put upon his powers. Mr. Brown passed away on November 7, 1916.
HERBERT McCOY.
Almost three decades ago Herbert McCoy established the business in which he is now engaged and through the intervening period has developed one of the highest class job printing and engraving houses of Omaha. His plans have ever been carefully devised and promptly executed and in his business he has kept abreast with the progressiveness that has strongly marked the printing trade. He was born in Vinton, Iowa, December 31, 1863, a son of John A. and Sarah Anna (Jack) McCoy, the former a native of Mount Eaton, Iowa, and the latter of Franklin, Pennsylvania. Following the discovery of gold in California, John A. McCoy crossed the plains to California, enduring all the hardships incident to the trip over the long stretches of hot sand and through the mountain passes to the Pacific coast. He remained in California for three years and returned by way of the Panama route, again settling in Iowa, where he engaged in the business of a millwright. In 1892 he removed to Omaha, where he resided until his death in 1903, at the age of seventy-five years. Mrs. McCoy survived until 1906 and was sixty-nine years of age at the time of her demise.
Herbert McCoy is the only survivor in a family of five children. In his boy- hood he was a pupil in the graded and public schools of Vinton, Iowa, com- pleting his studies in 1879, after which he took up the printing business as an employe on the Vinton (Ia.) Eagle. Starting in the capacity of printer's devil, he worked his way upward through the various departments until he had mastered the trade. He then became a journeyman printer and worked in various paper and printing establishments at Winnipeg and Victoria, Canada, and at San Francisco, California. In 1884 he first came to Omaha, where he remained for nine months and then again took up journeyman work. He returned to this city in 1887 and was employed by others until the following year, when he established business on his own account on a small scale. Gradually his interests have ex- panded and enlarged and today he has one of the neatest, as well as best equipped job printing houses of the city. He originally had William McBride and John Ryan as partners but he later bought out the plant. He then added more modern presses and machinery and bent his energy to the careful direction of his interests. From time to time he has added to and enlarged his office and its equipment and today has a plant supplied with the most up-to-date machinery and modern appliances known to the printing business. Such an equipment implies a very extensive patronage and indicates the business to be one of substantial profits.
In Omaha, on the 12th of May, 1890, Mr. McCoy was married to Miss Emma May George, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George George, who became pioneer
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residents of Rockford, Illinois, in 1846. Mr. and Mrs. McCoy have three chil- dren : Helen Yule, who was born December 25, 1892, and after being graduated from the high school of Omaha attended Wellesley College of Massachusetts ; Marguerite A., who was born March 28, 1896, and after completing the high school course entered the University of Nebraska class of 1918; and Gwendolyn, who was born October 28, 1900, and is now a high school pupil.
Mr. McCoy exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the republican party. He belongs to the Omaha Field Club, which indicates something of the nature of his recreation. He is a well known and prominent man, standing high in citizenship and in business circles. He believes in Omaha first, last and always and in that loyal support of its interests and enterprises which encourages and fosters home industry and leads to substantial public prosperity.
R. J. MADDEN.
R. J. Madden, police judge of Omaha, was born in Waseca, Minnesota, Feb- ruary 25, 1892, a son of John and Elizabeth (Burns) Madden, who were natives of Waseca county, Minnesota. The father became a well known farmer of that district and afterward removed to Omaha, Nebraska, where he is now living retired at the age of fifty-nine years. His wife passed away in Minnesota in 1912, at the age of fifty-two years. In their family were five children : Ambrose, a resident of Sheridan, Wyoming; Mary, living in Winona, Minnesota ; Raphael J .; Leo, now in San Francisco, California; and Gertrude, in Omaha.
At the usual age R. J. Madden became a public school pupil and passed through consecutive grades to his graduation from the high school with the class of 1910. He next became a student in the law department of Creighton University, completing his course in 1913. He then entered upon active practice in Omaha, where he has since remained. In 1914 he was defeated by fifteen votes for the office of police judge of the city court and in 1916 he again became a candidate for that position, to which he was elected by a majority of twenty- one hundred. He is recognized as an able attorney, weli fitted for judicial serv- ice, and he stands high in public regard and also in the esteem of his professional brethren.
Mr. Madden belongs to the Roman Catholic church and is a third degree Knight of Columbus. He always votes with the democratic party and has fre- quently been a delegate to county and state conventions. He has membership in the Delta Phi Delta, a legal fraternity, and he is interested in athletics. While a university student he was a member of the football team of Creighton and he endorses all manly athletics and outdoor sports.
NATHAN O. TALBOT.
Nathan O. Talbot, owner and publisher of The Daily Record at Omaha, is a native of Pella, Iowa. He was born April 30, 1862, of the marriage of William Talbot and Isabel Moore, who were natives of Ohio and of Illinois respectively. The latter was of Scotch descent, while the former represented an old Ohio family of English lineage that was established in Massachusetts while this country was still numbered among the colonial possessions of Great Britain. William Talbot became a successful farmer of Iowa, where he took up his abode in 1853, after- ward contributing to the pioneer development and upbuilding of the state. He drove across the country with ox teams and became a valued citizen of the county of his adoption. His wife died in 1883, when but forty years of age. In the
R. J. MADDEN
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family were ten children, of whom four died in infancy, and of those who reached adult age four are still living.
Nathan O. Talbot, the eldest, pursued his education in public schools and in Central University at Pella, Iowa. Through the period of his youth his time was divided between the work of the schoolroom and of the home farm and when eighteen years of age he started out to earn his own livelihood. He con- tinued his studies, however, until he reached the age of twenty-two and after leaving college taught school for about two years. He later became topographical surveyor for a map publishing company of Quincy, Illinois, and through the succeeding three years traveled for that company, known as the J. P. Edwards Mapping Company. On the Ist of January, 1889, Mr. Talbot arrived in Omaha, where he entered the publishing business in connection with the Douglas County Reporter, which was the pioneer commercial paper of the city, the business having been established in 1886. At the time when Mr. Talbot became connected with the paper C. C. Campbell was conducting it. Mr. Talbot purchased a half interest in the business and after six months became sole proprietor. He has since con- ducted the paper alone and in 1892 he changed its name to The Daily Record. It is the only paper of the kind issued in this city and that it is regarded as of value in commercial lines is indicated by its large subscription list. Mr. Talbot is also secretary of the City Linotyping Company of Omaha and is the vice pres- ident of the Midland Title Guarantee & Abstract Company. The first money that he ever earned was one hundred dollars, for which he worked eight months, spending that time as an employe on a thousand-acre farm. Gradually from that point he has advanced until he is well known in the business circles of the city as one of the representative men.
On the Ist of March, 1888, in Quincy, Illinois, Mr. Talbot was united in marriage to Miss Harriett Edwards, a native of Illinois and a daughter of the late Charles W. and Maggie (Quinton) Edwards, representing an old family of Hannibal, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Talbot have three children, namely: Ray- mond A., who is associated with his father in the publication of The Daily Record; Willard O., vice president and general manager of the Refiners Oil Company of Dayton, Ohio; and Alice Nathene. :
Mr. Talbot belongs to the Commercial Club, being in hearty sympathy with its purposes to extend the trade relations of Omaha and promote its business and civic progress. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, gives his political allegiance to the republican party and indicates his interest in moral development through his membership in and support of the First Baptist church. He has many substantial qualities worthy of praise and commendation and he enjoys the warm friendship of the large majority of those with whom he comes in contact.
CLARENCE E. COREY.
Clarence E. Corey, senior partner in the Corey & Mckenzie Printing Company of Omaha, was born in York county, Nebraska, May 26, 1873, his parents being A. G. and Mary C. (Gilmore) Corey, in whose family were four sons and a daughter, Clarence E. being the eldest. The father was a native of Wisconsin and the mother of Pennsylvania. In 1866 he arrived in Nebraska and cast in his lot with the pioneer settlers of the state. He took up the occupation of farming and afterward entered into mercantile pursuits. He is now filling the position of postmaster at Fairfield, Nebraska, at the age of seventy-two years and his wife has reached the age of seventy.
In his boyhood days Clarence E. Corcy attended the schools of his home town and later continued his studies in the college at Fairfield, Nebraska. He began learning the printers' trade when fourteen years of age, securing work at McCool
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Junction in York county. He mastered the printers' trade and then entered the field of newspaper publication on his own account, conducting papers in various parts of the state. He sold out at different times because of advantageous offers which he received, and in 1901 he came to Omaha where he established the Corey Printery. Later he was joined by Guy C. Mckenzie under the name of the Corey & Mckenzie Printing Company. They are today among the leading printers of Omaha, doing all kinds of printing and dealing in office supplies. Something of their business methods is indicated in the fact that they have been termed "The livest printing concern in Omaha." They have organized a pro- gressive system that produces results. Visiting the business man they tell him how advertising can help his business and guarantee the increase. Mr. Corey as office man has under his supervision the work of the office, and no finer is turned out in Omaha. Mr. Mckenzie is at the head of the selling department and has developed the Business Mens Result-Getting Plan that has put the concern into the front ranks of live, aggressive firms. Their plan has been termed "Salesmen of the Mail" which is a follow-up system of direct advertising, one whereby the thing to be sold is placed before prospective buyers and placed before them in such a way that it commands attention and consideration. A local writer speaking of the firm said : "These men are satisfied from the results obtained by many who have worked out their sales problems along the line of sell- ing by mail, that this field will return a hundred-fold, and they are equipped to help the business man seed and harvest the crop. Salesmen of the Mail is a guaranteed service. It consists of copy-writing, compiling, illustrating, cut making, printing, planning sales promotion, in fact everything that goes into the making of business-getting literature. The company has experts who know how to write advertising copy that brings results. They compile statistics for any line of business. They have an artist who devotes all his time to fine special illustra- tions. In fact they handle your campaign from the start to finish." They now employ twenty men and their business is growing rapidly and continuously. In addition to this "Salesmen of the Mail" service they do general job printing in a most completely equipped office and turn out as fine work as can be found any- where. Quality has been made their watchword.
In Omaha on the Ist of November, 1904, Mr. Corey was married to Miss Virginia Peterson, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James W. Peterson, and they have two children, Marjorie, who was born in Omaha in 1906, and Audrey, in 1909. Mr. Corey has membership with the Knights of Pythias and with the Commercial Club. He is also president of the United Typothetae, a printers' organization. He is likewise connected with the Kountze Memorial Lutheran church. Those who know him recognize in him a man worthy of highest respect and esteem because of his admirable traits of character and his consideration for all those things which make for honorable manhood and upright citizenship.
NELS P. SWANSON.
From early manhood to the present Nels P. Swanson, a well known under- taker, has resided continuously in Omaha. He is, however, of foreign birth, being a native of Sweden, born July 24, 1865. His people remained in that country and there after completing his education Nels P. Swanson spent three years as a clerk in a general store. The opportunities offered in the new world caused him to come to America in 1884. He remained a resident of Glens Falls, New York, until the spring of 1885, when he came to Omaha, but after a few days he went to Lyons, Nebraska, where he spent the summer. In the fall, however, he returned to this city and entered the employ of General Leavitt Burnham of the Union Pacific, with whom he remained for a year. He next secured a position with H. K. Burkett, an undertaker, with whom he spent two
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years, at the end of which time he engaged in the same line of business on his own account at No. 1701 Cuming street. By close application he has built up a large business and in 1912 erected his present substantial building across the street from his former place. It is a two story brick structure, having the office, retiring and reception parlors, also the chapel and the preparing rooms on the main floor. There is a private entrance to the chapel, which furnishes ample accommodation for one hundred or more. The show rooms are on the upper floor and the estab- lishment is well equipped.
In October, 1890, Mr. Swanson was united in marriage to Miss Nettie E. Valien, a native of Chicago, whose parents removed to Omaha in an early day. Mr. and Mrs. Swanson have two sons. Roy, who was educated in the Omaha schools, was in the United States National Bank for three years and was making continuous advancement in that business, but found that the close confinement was injuring his health and was compelled to resign. He joined a surveying party, spending eighteen months in Wyoming, and upon his return he became associated with his father in business. The younger son, Harry, became a con- mercial traveler for the National Casket Company of Chicago, with which he remained for three years, and is now a traveling representative of the Firestone Tire Company. Both are progressive young business men who are making good in their respective lines.
Mr. Swanson votes with the republican party and in 1897 was elected coroner, which position he filled for two years and was then reelected. He is well known in Masonic circles, having taken the degrees of the Scottish Rite, while with the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine he has crossed the sands of the desert. He is like- wise identified with the Elks and he is a member of the Lutheran church. Coming to America before attaining his majority, he has never had occasion to regret his determination to seek a home in the new world. In the improvement of the opportunities here offered he has steadily worked his way upward and his success has been the merited reward of persistent effort, close application and honorable dealing.
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